PASADENA, Calif. — A roundup of news Wednesday from the Television Critics Association winter meeting, at which TV networks and streaming services are presenting details on upcoming programs:
Two new BET series
It’s all about the music on BET, with the cable network doubling down on series featuring singers and entrepreneurs in behind-the-scenes glimpses of the industry.
Kelly Rowland, New Edition, Snoop Dogg and Birdman are among those showing what it’s like to try and make it in music, a topic made hot by the overwhelming success of the Fox series “Empire.”
Rowland hosts and is a producer on “Chasing Destiny,” debuting April 5 on BET. The singer from Destiny’s Child fame takes viewers on a quest to find the next big female group.
“It’s not a reality competition show,” Rowland told a TV critics gathering Wednesday. “No one has actually gotten to see the journey of a group. We actually wanted to have everything documented and cameras following us.”
Rowland and Frank Gatson, a creative director and choreographer who worked with Destiny’s Child, had already teamed on the project before BET came aboard to turn it into a series. There will not be a judges’ table like “American Idol” and “The Voice.”
The cable network announced another new series Wednesday called “Music Moguls,” featuring Snoop Dogg, Birdman, Jermaine Dupri and Damon Dash. The eight, one-hour episodes debut June 28. The rappers and producers try to balance their family lives with the demands of the industry.
BET has previously announced a miniseries on New Edition, the ‘80s R&B group whose breakout star was Bobby Brown, ex-husband of the late Whitney Houston.
Another upcoming BET series is “Inside the Label,” about music industry entrepreneurs.
Good bye to ‘Girls’
HBO says it will pull the plug on its hit comedy “Girls” after a sixth and final season next year.
The series about a group of young women in their 20s made creator and actress Lena Dunham a star, and was also a feather in the cap of veteran comic producer Judd Apatow.
The fifth season of “Girls” is set to launch on the pay cable network on Feb. 21.
Dunham said Wednesday that she conceived of “Girls” when she was 23 and now she’s about to turn 30, so it felt like the perfect time to wrap things up. Besides Dunham, the show’s cast includes Allison Williams and Adam Driver.
Brandy returns
Brandy is back on series television although she’s not singing in her show. She plays a newly single mom with a famous boxer as her ex-husband in “Zoe Ever After,” which debuted Tuesday on BET.
The 36-year-old singer, who rose to fame on the series “Moesha” that ran for six seasons in the late ‘90s, has new music out, too.
Her single “Beggin’ &Pleadin”’ was released shortly after her show’s debut.
“It’s hot, you’re going to love it,” she said. “My fans have been starving for music and they’ve been so patient. I wrote the song two years ago. I just sat on it. I’ve got to do music.”
Brandy hasn’t put out an album since 2012. Missy Elliott weighed in with an early endorsement for more new music.
“Yssssss brandy. … Your vocals is top notch! Congrats!” the rapper tweeted.
Mandela mini coming
BET says it will air a miniseries about Nelson Mandela next year, with actor Laurence Fishburne portraying the late South African leader.
Stephen Hill, the network’s chief programming executive, said Wednesday the six-hour “Madiba” series is being made with the cooperation of Mandela’s family.
Mandela, the longtime prisoner of the apartheid system, became South Africa’s first black president. He died in 2013 at age 95.
BET moved into miniseries last year with “The Book of Negroes,” about a girl who grew up in Africa who was sold into slavery in America.
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